Russia has launched a fresh wave of drone and missile strikes on cities across Ukraine, reports say.
Explosions were heard overnight in the capital, Kyiv, where the mayor said five people had been injured in the "biggest" kamikaze drone attack so far, BBC reports.
One person was killed in the attack on the southern Odesa region. BBC quoted Ukraine's Red Cross as saying that its warehouse was hit.
It marks the fourth attack in eight days on Kyiv and comes just 24 hours before Russia celebrates Victory Day.
The annual holiday commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during World War Two, a conflict the Kremlin has baselessly tried to draw parallels with since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the report added.
According to The Guardian, Russia’s latest missile barrage came as both sides appeared to be preparing for a widely expected Ukrainian offensive Kyiv hopes will help recapture territory lost since the start of the war.
At the weekend, Russia began evacuating hundreds of civilians from occupied areas in south-eastern Ukraine, including families from Enerhodar, a city close to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the report added.
According to The Guardian, In the east of Ukraine, Moscow intensified its attack on Bakhmut, hoping to take the embattled city in time to mark its Victory Day holiday, said a senior Ukrainian general charged with defending Bakmut, a city with a prewar population of about 70,000 that has been blasted to ruins.
In Kyiv, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, said he had submitted a bill to parliament officially making 8 May a day of remembrance and victory, while 9 May would become Europe Day, the latest move that underlined Ukraine’s break with its Soviet past, the report said.
Standing in front of a second world war memorial, Zelenskiy also said Russian forces would be defeated in Ukraine, like Nazi Germany was at the time.